1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer ceramic condenser and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a method of manufacturing a multilayer ceramic condenser having improved reliability by securing the durability thereof, and a multilayer ceramic condenser manufactured by the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A condenser, which is a device capable of storing electricity, stores electricity in individual electrodes thereof by applying voltage to two opposing electrodes. When DC voltage is applied to the condenser, current flows in the condenser while electricity is stored therein, but when the storage of electricity is completed, current does not flow in the condenser. On the other hand, when AC voltage is applied to the condenser, AC current flows continuously in the condenser while the polarity of the electrodes is alternated.
Depending on a type of an insulator provided between electrodes, the condenser may be classified as an aluminum electrolytic condenser in which electrodes are made of aluminum and a thin oxide layer is provided between the aluminum electrodes, a tantalum electrolytic condenser using tantalum as an electrode material, a ceramic condenser using a high-K dielectric such as barium titanate between electrodes, a multilayer ceramic condenser (MLCC) using a multilayer structure made of high-K ceramic as a dielectric provided between electrodes, a film condenser using a polystyrene film as a dielectric between electrodes, or the like.
Among those condensers, the multilayer ceramic condenser may be miniaturized while having excellent temperature and frequency characteristics, such that it has been frequently used for various applications, such as a high frequency circuit, or the like.
In the multilayer ceramic condenser according to the related art, a laminate may be formed by stacking a plurality of dielectric sheets, outer electrodes having different polarities may be formed at the outside of the laminate, and inner electrodes alternately stacked in the laminate may be electrically connected to the outer electrodes, respectively.
The inner electrodes, alternately formed between the dielectric sheets, are connected to oppose each other and have opposing polarities to generate capacitance coupling, such that the multilayer ceramic condenser has a capacitance value.
Recently, as electronic products have been miniaturized and have become highly integrated, research into miniaturizing and highly integrating the multilayer ceramic condenser has been frequently conducted. In particular, various attempts have been made to improve the connectivity between the inner electrode patterns while thinning and increasing the stacking amount of the dielectric layers in order to implement a high-capacity and small-sized multilayer ceramic condenser.